The Financialization of US Higher Education

Research on financialization has been constrained by limited suitable measures for cases outside of the for-profit sector. Using the case of US higher education, we consider financialization as both increasing reliance on financial investment returns and increasing costs from transactions to acquire capital. We document returns and costs across four types of transactions: (i) revenues from endowment investments, (ii) interest payments on institutional borrowing by colleges, (iii) profits extracted by investors in for-profit colleges and (iv) interest payments on student loan borrowing by households. Estimated annual funding from endowment investments grew from $16 billion in 2003 to$20 billion in 2012. Meanwhile financing costs grew from $21 billion in 2003 to$48 billion in 2012, or from 5 to 9% of the total higher education spending, even as interest rates declined. Increases in financial returns, however, were concentrated at wealthy colleges whereas increases in financing costs tended to outpace returns at poorer institutions. We discuss the implications of the findings for resource allocation, organizational governance and stratification among colleges and households.1. Introduction 2. Financialization and higher education 3. Data and measures 4. College endowments and financial revenues 5. College institutional debt and interest costs 6. Proprietary colleges and profits as the costs of equity investment 7. Student loan debt and interest payments 8. Quantifying the costs of higher education financialization 9. Conclusions Supplementary material Funding Acknowledgements References Supplementary dat

Morphogrammata / The lettered Art of Optatian. Figuring Cultural Transformations in the Age of Constantine

This volume explores one of the most complex, multifaceted and momentous of all western cultural transformations: the refashioning of the Roman principate under the emperor Constantine in the early fourth century AD. It does so through the kaleidoscopic lens of one of antiquity’s most fascinating (and maligned) artists, Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius. Optatian’s experiments with word and image are little known among classicists. But, as contributors to this volume argue, his ‘morphogrammatic’ creations uniquely reflect, figure and shape the cultural dynamics of the fourth century. This is the first edited book dedicated to Optatian’s picture-poems and their various historical contexts. By bringing together different disciplinary perspectives (including ancient history, classical philology, art history, theology, philosophy and media studies), the volume demonstrates how Optatian gave form to the various political, intellectual and cultural currents of his age. At the same time, contributors champion Optatian as a uniquely creative artist – and one who anticipated some of our most pressing literary critical, art historical and philosophical concerns today

Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory

xi, 132 p. ; 23 cm

Ritualization and Political Agency in the Late Roman Republic

International audienceCicero’s Philippics provide a useful case study of the interrelationship of different modes of ritualization: linguistic, religious, and political. In Cicero’s view mastery of ritualized protocols establishes political agency, and their violation by Antony marks his opposition to the entire project of republicanism. Cicero’s exercise of political agency at a moment of extreme duress makes clear his understanding of the republic as a ritualized entity. Analysis of the Philippics thus complicates the modern distinctions between religion, political action, and eloquent speech retroactively imposed upon the Roman material and allows us instead to interpret the Roman republic as a set of interlocking ritualized practices in accord with anthropological and evolutionary accounts of community formation.Les Philippiques de Cicéron nous fournissent un utile terrain pour étudier la relation entre différents modes de ritualisation : linguistique, religieuse et politique. Dans la perspective de Cicéron, la maîtrise des protocoles ritualisés établit l’efficacité politique, et leur violation par Marc Antoine marque son opposition au projet républicain. L’exercice par Cicéron de l’agentivité politique à un moment d’extrême tension rend évidente sa vision de la République comme une entité ritualisée. L’analyse des Philippiques complique ainsi les distinctions modernes entre religion, action politique et discours éloquent imposées rétroactivement sur les données romaines ; elle nous permet à la place d’interpréter la République romaine comme un ensemble de pratiques ritualisée interdépendantes en accord avec l’analyse anthropologique et évolutive de la formation des communautés

Ritualization and Political Agency in the Late Roman Republic

Les Philippiques de Cicéron nous fournissent un utile terrain pour étudier la relation entre différents modes de ritualisation : linguistique, religieuse et politique. Dans la perspective de Cicéron, la maîtrise des protocoles ritualisés établit l’efficacité politique, et leur violation par Marc Antoine marque son opposition au projet républicain. L’exercice par Cicéron de l’agentivité politique à un moment d’extrême tension rend évidente sa vision de la République comme une entité ritualisée. L’analyse des Philippiques complique ainsi les distinctions modernes entre religion, action politique et discours éloquent imposées rétroactivement sur les données romaines ; elle nous permet à la place d’interpréter la République romaine comme un ensemble de pratiques ritualisée interdépendantes en accord avec l’analyse anthropologique et évolutive de la formation des communautés.Cicero’s Philippics provide a useful case study of the interrelationship of different modes of ritualization: linguistic, religious, and political. In Cicero’s view mastery of ritualized protocols establishes political agency, and their violation by Antony marks his opposition to the entire project of republicanism. Cicero’s exercise of political agency at a moment of extreme duress makes clear his understanding of the republic as a ritualized entity. Analysis of the Philippics thus complicates the modern distinctions between religion, political action, and eloquent speech retroactively imposed upon the Roman material and allows us instead to interpret the Roman republic as a set of interlocking ritualized practices in accord with anthropological and evolutionary accounts of community formation

Sacrifice, Society, and Vergil's Ox-born Bees

Pages 209-223 of Cabinet of the Muses: essays on classical and comparative literature in honor of Thomas G. Rosenmeyer, edited by Mark Griffith and Donald J. Mastronarde (Atlanta 1990)